Ch. 15's Big Question: In what ways did the spread of Christianity, Islam, and modern science give rise to culturally based conflicts?

The spread of Christianity, Islam, and modern science gave rise to culturally based conflicts was “central players in the globalization” (Strayer, 644). This is sometimes called The Globalization of Christianity. Despite, “Asian, African, and Native American peoples largely determined how Christianity would be accepted, rejected, or transformed as it entered new cultural environments” (Strayer, 644), science is the most important subject that “emerged within an international and not simply a European context, and it met varying receptions in different parts of the world” (Strayer, 644). At the same time, “Islam continued a long pattern of religious expansion and renewal, even as Christianity began to compete with it as a world religion” (Strayer, 644). This is the most important part of history in the modern era. 

According to the Globalization in Europe, Christianity was the most important religion that represents “the world of Christendom” (Strayer, 644) in 1500. This “stretched from Spain and England in the west to Russia in the east, with small and beleaguered communities of various kinds in Egypt, Ethiopia, southern India, and Central Asia” (Strayer, 644). In addition, Europeans were also “central players in the globalization of Christianity, theirs was not the only expanding or transformed culture of the early modern era” (Strayer, 659). This used in persistence and change in Afro-Asian cultural traditions, especially “African religious ideas and practices” (Strayer, 659). Therefore, the Globalization in Europe was a worldwide spread during its modern era. 

Overall, the spread of Christianity, Islam, and modern science “became a universal worldview, open to all who could accept its premises and its techniques” (Strayer, 665).

Ch. 14's Big Question: To what extent did Europeans transform earlier patterns of commerce, and in what ways did they assimilate into those older patterns?

European empire transformed earlier patterns of commerce "in the Western Hemisphere grew out of an accident — Columbus’s unknowing encounter with the Americas — and that new colonial societies and new commercial connections across the Atlantic were the results" (Strayer, 602), this is the best way they assimilate into those older patterns. Europeans also "encountered an ancient and rich network of commerce that stretched from East Africa to China" (Strayer, 602). They were used within commercial network's wealth, "but largely ignorant of its workings" (Strayer, 602).

Europeans had transformed into Asia in the Early Modern Era, which was "witnessed only very limited territorial control by Europeans in Asia" (Strayer, 604). Most people would prefer trade, which "was the chief concern of the Western newcomers, who were not, in any event, a serious military threat to major Asian states" (Strayer, 604). This is a persistent trade deficit that had "contributed much to the intense desire for precious metals that attracted early modern European explorers, traders, and conquerors" (Strayer, 604). This is how early modern European explorers, traders, and conquerors "behaved in that world and what they created there differed considerably among the various European countries, but collectively they contributed much to the new regime of globalized trade" (Strayer, 604), including Indian Ocean commerce.

Overall, the European empire is the most important subject in world history.

Ch. 13's Big Question: In thinking about the similarities and differences among the empires of the early modern era, what categories of comparison might be most useful to consider?

The similarities and differences among the empires of the early modern era, I might use European colonization in the Americas. This is similar to American and European students. Yet, this story "in the context of other empire-building projects of the early modern era, it takes on new and different meanings" (Strayer, 588). For instance, "a context helps to counter any remaining Eurocentrism in our thinking about the past by reminding us that Western Europe," (Strayer, 588) which was not an expansion of different peoples in culture. Therefore, the modern age is "derived from multiple sources" (Strayer, 588). This then raises a question, "How often do we notice that a European Christendom creating empires across the Atlantic was also the victim of Ottoman imperial expansion in the Balkans" (Strayer, 588)?

This kind of empire is distinctly used in Europe "as we view them in the mirror of other imperial creations" (Strayer, 588). In addition, "the Chinese, Mughal, and Ottoman empires continued older patterns of historical development," (Strayer, 588), whilst human history has been reflected in Europe, including "an interacting Atlantic world of Europe, Africa, and the Americas" (Strayer, 588). Moreover, the European empires had the best impact "on the peoples they incorporated than did other empires" (Strayer, 588). 

Europe has been "enriched and transformed by its American possessions far more than China and the Ottomans were by their territorial acquisitions" (Strayer, 588). This is the reason why "Europeans gained enormous new biological resources from their empires — corn, potatoes, tomatoes, chocolate, tobacco, timber, and much more — as well as enormous wealth in the form of gold, silver, and land" (Strayer, 588). This then gives a phrase: "in world history, nothing stands alone; context is everything" (Strayer, 588), is the motto of world history.

Oliver! I Accept Your Challenge.......

This is going to be a challenge for you, Oliver. This will be interesting for you to learn about the history of the Silk Roads. Here's the reason:

1. "Silk Road trading networks prospered most when large and powerful states provided security for merchants and travelers" (Strayer, 284).

2. "In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Mongol Empire briefly encompassed almost the entire route of the Silk Roads in a single state, giving a renewed vitality to long-distance trade" (Strayer, 285).

3. "Over many centuries, various technological innovations, such as yokes, saddles, and stirrups, made the use of camels, horses, and oxen more effective means of transportation across the vast distances of the Silk Roads" (Strayer, 285).

These three quotes are most important for you to learn about the historical change of the Silk Roads. Therefore, you can learn more about how the Silk Roads are forming, such as the second-wave civilizations under the construction in the continent of Eurasia during the last five centuries B.C.E.

I believe the relationship between China and Europe will be the best route of Eurasian connection.

Breathing for Extra Credit

Breathing is important throughout my life in 24 years. This is usually used for releasing nervous while I am talking too much stuff for myself. This is what my parents, sister, and mom's family told me all the same time for me to bring less stuff while I am traveling. That's why I have to be aware of my stuff without losing anything that is useful for me, especially passport and wallet. This is the learning process of "how to breath" in my life. 

In breathing, I can experience a lot of ideas, such as relaxing. For relaxing, my parents had told me many times, for instance, watching movies and listening to music. These are leisure activities about “how to relax” in my life. Therefore, I think it’s worth it for me to learn about relaxing as everything will be easy, such as organizing things in order, without any messes. 

Overall, breathing and relaxing are the most important things in my life.

Ch. 11 = Pastoral Peoples (For and/or Against)

For:

1. According to the third-wave millennium, "Chinese culture and Buddhism provided a measure of integration among the peoples of East Asia; Christianity did the same for Europe, while the realm of Islam connected most of the lands in-between" (Strayer, 480). 

2. Diplomacy on an Eurasian Scale throughout the Mongol Empire. 

3. Trade and disease had happened in the fourteenth century. 

4. Cultural Change in the Mongol Realm throughout “transcontinental economic and political relationships” (Strayer, 482) with exchanging “peoples and cultures” (Strayer, 482). 

5. According to the participation’s derived benefit, Mongols’ society “must be measured alongside the hemispheric catastrophe known as the “plague” or the “pestilence” and later called the Black Death” (Strayer, 483). 

Against: 

1. Turks had occurred in Islam during the tenth to the fourteenth centuries in “a major turning point in history” (Strayer, 464). 

2. The Mongol Empire had been governed “for all of its size and fearsome reputation” (Strayer, 467). 3. According to the unification of the Mongol tribes, this then raises a question: “what was Chinggis Khan to do with the powerful army he had assembled” (Strayer, 468)? 

4. According to Mongol’s policy, one scholar explains this way, “Extremely conscious of their small numbers and fearful of rebellion, Chinggis often chose to annihilate a region’s entire population, if it appeared too troublesome to govern” (Strayer, 472). 

5. If the violence occurs throughout Persia, then “Russia’s incorporation into the Mongol Empire was very different” (Strayer, 478).

 

Ch. 10 = Christendom

In the Western term, Christendom is referred to as "encompassing what we now know as Western Europe, the setting was far different" (Strayer, 410). There had a vanished rule in 500 C.E. in Rome, which had "accompanied by the weakening of many features of Roman civilization" (Strayer, 410).  This was affected by despaired roads, decayed cities, and more.

However, there has a "story of global Christendom in the era of the "third-wave civilizations is one of contractions and expansions" (Strayer, 410). As Christendom is a religion, "Christianity contracted sharply in Asia and Africa even as it expanded in Western Europe and Russia" (Strayer, 410), whilst a civilization states "Christian Byzantium flourished for a time, then gradually contracted and finally disappeared" (Strayer, 411). This is actually a trajectory of civilization that had happened in the West, which "at first contracting as the Roman Empire collapsed and later expanding as a new and blended civilization took hold in Western Europe" (Strayer, 411).

That's all about Christendom in the world.

The Elites Were Living High. Then Came the Fall.

The article is based on modern cities' civilizations at Ugarit and Mycenae during the Bronze Age period. According to Emar, "a trading outpost in what is now northern Syria sent a desperate letter to his boss, Urtenu." Urtenu lived in Ugarit. He was the one who lived in the Bronze Age. This was the time that myths of "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey," in 3000 B.C.E. to 1200 B.C.E. This was the idea that refers to the investment of the community, "because no matter who is in charge at the top and local businesses are likely to survive," said Ms. Quinn. In this situation, there has a question, "will we face a violent uprising in the wake of economic collapse?" Most people say no. This is perhaps not suffered to the way the Bronze Age kings did in today's 1% of the wake of economic collapse. There has a reason that the "local trade networks are no as robust as the ones that existed in 1000 B.C.E. when merchants from Tyre traded with nearby villages, who then traded villages, who then traded with other neighboring towns" (Newitz, 2020). It was a little bit sad to think about how the Bronze Age case was formed, "in which a few elites bore the brunt of the suffering" (Newitz, 2020). During the Bronze Age period, there had several towns and local traders, which "depend on international supply chains as much as the kings Ugarit did" (Newitz, 2020). Moreover, "our survival still depends on sustainable local networks, and not tax breaks granted by kings" (Newitz, 2020).

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/11/opinion/sunday/coronavirus-inequality-history.html

World Civilization of Silk Road

I found 17 points that show the Silk Road's civilization that might extend away between 430 B.C.E. and 15th century A.D.

Ch. 6's Big Question: “The particular cultures and societies of Africa, the Americas, and Pacific Oceania discussed in this chapter developed largely in isolation.” What evidence would support this statement, and what might challenge it?

The evidence might be continental comparisons through "the particular cultures and societies of Africa, the Americas, and Pacific Oceania." This will mainly be in Ch. 6. According to continental comparisons, "at the broadest, human cultures evolved in quite similar fashion around the world" (Strayer, 230). This is the part of human migration that people might think about the planet of the Earth throughout Eurasia, Australia, the Americas, and Pacific Oceania. This idea is called the "vast movement of humankind" (Strayer, 230). This kind of society may remain, just as "gathering, hunting, and fishing long remained the sole basis for sustaining life and society" (Strayer, 230).

I might challenge with continental comparisons would be the world's human population that "was then distributed very unevenly across the three giant continents" (Strayer, 230). That's the problem, based on how many people are survived in the world. According to the Snapshot on page 232 of the title Continental Population in the Second-Wave Era and Beyond in Strayer textbook, "Eurasia was then home to more than 85 percent of the world’s people, Africa about 10 percent, the Americas around 5 percent, and Oceania less than 1 percent" (Strayer, 230). This is unevenness throughout population distribution as it is a pattern that world historians mostly focus on only the continent of Eurasia. That's the reason why I must challenge the world's human population.

Overall, continental comparisons of Eurasia, Australia, the Americas, and Pacific Oceania are always supported and challenged throughout the quote "the particular cultures and societies of Africa, the Americas, and Pacific Oceania."

From the Epic of Gilgamesh

From The Epic of Gilgamesh

(abbreviated version)

In the wildness she created valiant Enkidu,

born of Silence, endowed with strength by Ninurta.

His whole body was shaggy with hair,

he had a full head of hair like a woman,

his locks billowed in profusion like Ashnan.

He knew neither people nor settled living,.

He ate grasses with the gazelles,

and jostled at the watering hole with the animals;

as with animals, his thirst was slaked with mere water.

A notorious trapper came face-to-face with him opposite the watering hole. 
On seeing him the trapper's face went stark with fear,
 and he and his animals drew back home.
 

The trapper was rigid with fear;  though stock-still
 his heart pounded and his face drained of color.
 He addressed his father saying:

      "Father, a certain fellow has come from the mountains.

      He is the mightiest in the land,

      his strength is as mighty as the meteorite of Anu!

      He continually goes over the mountains,

      he continually jostles at the watering place with the animals,

      he continually plants his feet opposite the watering place.

      I was afraid, so I did not go up to him.

      He filled in the pits that I had dug,

      wrenched out my traps that I had spread,

      released from my grasp the wild animals.

      He does not let me make my rounds in the wilderness!"

The trapper's father spoke to him saying:


      "My son, there lives in Uruk a certain Gilgamesh.


      There is no one stronger than he,


      he is as strong as the meteorite of Anu.


      Go, set off to Uruk,


      tell Gilgamesh of this Man of Might.


      He will give you the harlot Shamhat, take her with you.


      She will overcome the fellow as if she were strong.


      When the animals are drinking at the watering place


      have her take off her robe and expose her sex.


      When he sees her he will draw near to her,


      and his animals who grew up in his wilderness will be alien to him."

The trapper heeded his father's advice. 
He made the journey, stood inside 

of Uruk,
 and declared to Gilgamesh:


      "There is a certain fellow who has come from the mountains--


      he is the mightiest in the land,


      his strength is as mighty as the meteorite of Anu!


      He continually goes over the mountains,


      he continually jostles at the watering place with the animals,


      he continually plants his feet opposite the watering place.


      I was afraid, so I did not go up to him.


      He filled in the pits that I had dug,


      wrenched out my traps that I had spread,


      released from my grasp the wild animals.


      He does not let me make my rounds in the wilderness!"


Gilgamesh said to the trapper:


      "Go, trapper, bring the harlot, Shamhat, with you.


      When the animals are drinking at the watering place


      have her take off her robe and expose her sex.


      When he sees her he will draw near to her,


      and his animals, who grew up in his wilderness, will be alien to him."

The trapper went, bringing the harlot, Shamhat, with him.
 They set off on the journey, making direct way.
 On the third day they arrived at the appointed place,
 and the trapper and the harlot sat down at their posts.
 

A first day and a second they sat opposite the watering hole.
 The animals arrived and drank at the watering hole,
 the wild beasts arrived and slaked their thirst with water.
 

Then he, Enkidu, offspring of the mountains,
 who eats grasses with the

 gazelles,
 came to drink at the watering hole with the animals,
 with the wild beasts he slaked his thirst with water.
  Then Shamhat saw him--a primitive,
 a savage fellow from the depths of the wilderness!


      "That is he, Shamhat! Release your clenched arms,


      expose your sex so he can take in your voluptuousness.


      Do not be restrained--take his energy!


      When he sees you he will draw near to you.


      Spread out your robe so he can lie upon you,


      and perform for this primitive the task of womankind!


      His animals who grew up in his wilderness will become alien to him,


      and his lust will groan over you."


Shamhat unclutched her bosom, exposed her sex, and he took in her voluptuousness.
 She was not restrained, but took his energy.
 She spread out her robe and he lay upon her. She performed for him, the primitive, the task of womankind. 
His lust groaned over her.

For six days and seven nights Enkidu stayed aroused,
 and had intercourse with the harlot 
until he was sated with her charms.
 But when he turned his attention to his animals,
 the gazelles saw Enkidu and darted off,
 the wild animals distanced themselves from his body. 


Enkidu ... his utterly depleted body,
 his knees that wanted to go off with his animals went rigid;
 Enkidu was diminished, his running was not as before.
 

But then he drew himself up, for his understanding had broadened. Turning around, he sat down at the harlot's feet, 
gazing into her face, his ears attentive as the harlot spoke.
 The harlot said to Enkidu:


      "You are beautiful, Enkidu, you are become like a god.


      Why do you gallop around the wilderness with the wild beasts?


      Come, let me bring you into Uruk-Haven,


      to the Holy Temple, the residence of Anu and Ishtar,


      the place of Gilgamesh, who is wise to perfection,
 

     but who struts his power over the people like a wild bull."
 

What she said found favor with him.
 Becoming aware of himself, he sought a friend.
 

Shamhat pulled off her clothing,

and clothed him with one piece

while she clothed herself with a second.

She took hold of him as the gods do

and brought him to the hut of the shepherds.

The shepherds gathered all around about him,

they marveled to themselves:

"How the youth resembles Gilgamesh--

tall in stature, towering up to the battlements over the wall!

Surely he was born in the mountains;

his strength is as mighty as the meteorite of Anu!"

They placed food in front of him,

they placed beer in front of him;

Enkidu knew nothing about eating bread for food,

and of drinking beer he had not been taught.

The harlot spoke to Enkidu, saying:

       "Eat the food, Enkidu, it is the way one lives.

       Drink the beer, as is the custom of the land."

Enkidu ate the food until he was sated,

he drank the beer-seven jugs!—

and became expansive and sang with joy!

He was elated and his face glowed.

He splashed his shaggy body with water,

and rubbed himself with oil, and turned into a human.

He put on some clothing and became like a warrior.

He took up his weapon and chased lions so that the shepherds could eat.

He routed the wolves, and chased the lions.

With Enkidu as their guard, the herders could lie down.

Enkidu spoke to the harlot:


      "Come, Shamhat, take me away with you


      to the sacred Holy Temple, the residence of Anu and Ishtar,


      the place of Gilgamesh, who is wise to perfection,
 

     but who struts his power over the people like a wild bull.


      I will challenge him...
 

     Let me shout out in Uruk: I am the mighty one!'


      Lead me in and I will change the order of things;


      he whose strength is mightiest is the one born in the wilderness!"

It is time to challenge and make a change of your life

I believe it is now time to challenge and make a new life of myself. This is the way I solve the problem. For example, the world has still had a COVID-19 pandemic. This situation causes people to have cases in the hospital and some people are dead. It's really cruel for me as you know the vaccine of COVID-19 is still not invented recently until next year. Moreover, I have to read the news daily until the vaccine invents. So, the year 2020 is the time to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic. I hope it won't happen again as its the second time.

My life is changed everything as COVID-19 pandemic all over the world. This is the life period that I've to stay in Taiwan until the vaccine comes out. This makes me feel so sad that I cannot go to foreign countries anymore since the year 2020. This shows the COVID-19 pandemic is far worse than before as I can go to foreign countries, such as France, Spain, and Portugal, etc.. The last country I've been traveled is the United States as I was studying over there in Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, California. This causes me to be changed throughout the COVID-19 pandemic's epidemics. That's why I was so stressed about it for something that are dramatically changed in my college life.

I know everything can be changed and it is a time of challenge to everybody and me. Therefore, everything will be fine all over the world.

Ch. 5's Big Question: Why do you think slavery was so much more prominent in Greco-Roman civilization than in India or China?

I think slavery was more prominent in Greco-Roman civilization than in India or China. This is an obvious reason that Greco-Roman civilization contains slavery while he/she was unquestioned about features throughout all over civilizations "until the nineteenth century, and in a few places, it still exists" (Strayer, 218). This is why slavery in China and India is not important because Chinese prominence is changing dynasties in the twentieth century; Indians preferred to think and behave about what kind of population is throughout all over the South Asian peninsula. So, it was prominent that the Greco-Roman population had more population of slavery.

The change and persistence alike "have long provided the inextricable warp and woof of both individual experience and historical study" (Strayer, 218). There has no doubt that lives are important throughout Greco-Roman civilization for slaveries to live than China or India. Therefore, "Untangling their elusive relationship has figured prominently in the task of historians and has contributed much to the enduring fascination of historical study" (Strayer, 218).

What I found most sad.......

What I found most sad is "the most compelling expression of tightening patriarchy lay in foot binding" (Strayer, 331). I don't want to see women who have a foot binding because their feet would become strange. This had actually happened in the 10th and 11th centuries C.E., which is inside the period of the Song Dynasty. The practice involved "the right wrapping of young girls' feet, usually breaking the bones of the foot and causing intense pain" (Strayer, 331). This is the best reason that refers to many mothers who had "imposed this painful procedure on their daughters, perhaps to enhance their marriage prospects and to assist them in competing with concubines for the attention of their husbands" (Strayer, 331). This is the process called family conflict.

Many women were "having tiny feet and the beautiful slippers that encased them became a source of some pride, even a topic of poetry for some literate women" (Strayer, 331). Foot binding also used as feminine Chinese culture, while "the practice of foot binding painfully deformed the feet of young girls and women, it was also associated aesthetically with feminine beauty, particularly int he delicate and elaborately decorated shoes that encased their bound foot" (Strayer, 332).

In final words of this blog post, I feel sad about women who had foot binding.

Photo Reference

https://www.shareschinese.com/foot-binding.html

What I found most interesting...

What I found most interesting is the Silk Road, which exchanged across Eurasia. This is the main point in Ch. 7 of Commerce and Culture. The significance of the Silk Road is "the Eurasian landmass has long been home to the majority of humankind as well as to the world's most productive agriculture, largest civilizations, and the greatest concentration of pastoral peoples" (Strayer, 284). This exchanges the people and networks to trade a lot of items, such as silk and gold. The Silk Road is the most important trade routes that goods, ideas, technologies, and diseases made their way throughout the continent of Eurasia for about 2,000 years ago.

I knew that trading networks of Silk Road "prospered most when large and powerful states provided security for merchants and travelers" (Strayer, 284). This also affected the Roman and Chinese empires in the second-wave era, which "anchored long-distance commerce at the western and eastern ends of Eurasia" (Strayer, 285). This situation had happened in the seventh and eighth centuries C.E. during the time period of the Byzantine Empire. This is the clashing point, which had "created an almost continuous belt of strong states across Eurasia" (Strayer, 285), by Tang dynasty China and the Muslim Abbasid dynasty. Therefore, the trading routes of the Silk Road are really significant, even it is a long-distance trade for something that is related to merchants and travelers who trade the goods.

Overall, "various technological innovations, such as yokes, saddles, and stirrups, made the use of camels, horses, and oxen more effective means of transportation" (Strayer, 285), throughout all over the various distances of the Silk Roads.

Ch. 4's Big Question: Is a secular outlook on the world an essentially modern phenomenon, or does it have precedents in the second-wave era?

A secular outlook on the world has precedents in the second-wave era. This has mostly happened in Chinese history as Confucius was its most important character. Confucianism and Greek rationalism are examples of this secular outlook, paying a little attention to the gods, but the heavy emphasis on education a moral betterment without a religious perspective.

Confucius replied to his teaching that "as if the spirits were present," (Stayer, 154) meaning the universe was moral throughout their human-beings. However, social harmony has concerned throughout the thrust of Confucian teaching, there have still a conflict that we don't live full time in the world because lives are always different for everybody. But, social harmony is still significant while precedents are existing for people to have in the second-wave era in the modern world of world history.

Finally, "Confucianism marked Chinese elite culture by its secular, or nonreligious character" (Stayer, 154). However, in Confucian teaching, "Confucius did not deny the reality of gods and spirits" (Stayer, 154). I must know about what kind of gods and spirits I am. This shows "Confucians values clearly justified the many inequalities of Chinese society, but they also established certain expectations for the superior parties in China's social hierarchy" (Stayer, 154).


 .

Ch. 3's Big Question: Do you think that these second-wave empires hold "lessons" for the present, or are contemporary circumstances sufficiently unique as to render the distant past irrelevant?

The second-wave empires have some lessons hold for the present, which is military strategy, brutal leaders don't last long anymore. Also, it occurred in the continent of Eurasia, "empire loomed large in Persian, Mediterranean, and Chinese history, but it played a rather less prominent role in Indian history" (Strayer, 131). This includes the place of First Civilizations in Indus River valley, which embodied in "exquisitely planned cities, such as Harappa but with little evidence of any central political authority" (Strayer, 131). This is the reason why second-wave empires are always not lasting long anymore because Indus Valley had been destroyed and invaded earlier that Aryans played a role to create its new civilization in 1500 B.C.E.

The second-wave empires also used as peasants' and slaves' need either social mobility or a say in policy to overcome the perceived social injustice.

In the subject of second-wave empires, there have several questions for its research interpretation: "Did the Aryans invade suddenly, or did they migrate slowly into the Indus River valley? Were they already there as a part of the Indus Valley populations? Was the civilization largely the work of Aryans, or did it evolve gradually from Indus Valley culture?" (Strayer, 132). Those questions are made from scholars to reach an agreement, based on the conflict between Indus Valley civilizations and Aryans. Those questions are helpful for me to reference what I read about as I am learning about the vital role of the second-wave empires.

Ch.2's Big Question: How did the various First Civilizations differ from one another?

In terms of government, the Indus Valley civilization differed from one another by not offering enough pieces of evidence of a powerful role, while the way that rulers are stating their positions in other First Civilizations varied. This is mainly related to "a productive agricultural technology, city living, distinct class, and gender inequalities, the emerging power of states" (Strayer, 80), all of these common subjects are for First Civilizations to create the world as followed.

Places of First Civilizations are Mesopotamia and Egypt, which may be caught "a glimpse of the differences, changes, and connections that characterized early civilizations" (Strayer, 80). Civilizations grew up in river valleys in both Mesopotamia and Egypt, depended on "their rivers to sustain productive agriculture in otherwise-arid lands" (Strayer, 80). However, rivers may contain differences from Mesopotamia. Egyptians were green gashes of teeming life,  which rose to soil and water that nurtured rich Egyptian agriculture.

Therefore, the Indus Valley civilization is always different from the First Civilizations as its agricultural style is important throughout the power in the modern world. 

Ch. 1's Big Question: How did early agricultural societies differ from those of the Paleolithic era?

The early agricultural societies are different from those of the Paleolithic era that it has its initial transition. This mostly relates to "human history, everything, in fact, before the advent of urban-based civilizations" (Strayer, 12), it had happened 5,500 years ago. The historical change of human-beings is important in history courses and books. These "often neglect this long phase of the human journey and instead choose to begin the story with the early civilizations of" (Strayer, 12) everywhere in the world, such as China, Egypt, and Mesopotamia.

Agricultural societies had experienced a lot of social inequalities that those of the Paleolithic era. They were larger density settled than gathering and hunting societies. This shows people were relied on their own skills of hunting/gathering to survive, not people developed tools and methods to utilize nature that refers to farming before it was always moving to where animals were to hunt or plants now one could settle anywhere if they know methods to farm and breed. 

As a result, early agricultural societies are not fair for social perspectives as the Paleolithic era.